Flowers Fade
by Shadow Quil
Summary: "You knew the Haruno Sakura, Tousan?" she asked in awe. Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Flowers Fade

A boy with blonde hair faced his dark haired, ex-best friend. The two stared at each other while a pink haired girl looked upon the scene from the side; her green eyes sparkled with unshed tears. The boys continued to glare and began to search for flaws in each others stances. This carried on for another few minuets. The blonde had a gash in his side that was bleeding heavily while the dark haired boy had a kunai though his leg. They both had minor cuts and bruises all over themselves and the girl was drained of her chakra. She had fought, and won, against the snake-sanin and his silver haired subordinate and now the two lay, dead, in a pool of their own blood. She was fighting them while her team mate, the blonde, had fought her ex-team mate. Then, they charged. The blonde gathered chakra to his hand, as did his opponent.

"RASENGAN!" The blonde yelled.

"CHIDORI!" The dark haired boy yelled at the same time.

In an instant, both attacks hit. The jutsus were strong and would be enough to kill the one who suffered the blow. The blonde didn't look up, afraid at the sight he would see, but the other boy stared at the one who had taken the blow. The body of the afflicted fell onto the ground and they began to breath, fast and heavy. Neither of the boys, however, had fallen. They both remained frozen in place.

A flash of pink.

They looked at the lip person, splayed out in red, gasping for breath. Her face became pale and her warming touch, cold. Her eyes that gleamed with life had dulled into the solitary song of death.

"N-N…Naruto…S-Sasuke..." She whispered. "D-Don't d-die…"

Her colour drained and she became like ice. The only warmth about her was the hot tears spilt by the two men whose lives she saved. They had killed her for _their_ rivalry. It was _their_ fault. They had killed the only person who had ever loved them _both_. Sasuke felt like a stone had been dropped in his stomach and his eyes were full of boiling hot liquid that he hadn't felt since the massacre of his clan. Naruto felt hatred. Hatred of himself and Sasuke, who were so caught up in their fight that they didn't notice their team mate coming in between them to stop their lives being taken at the age of thirteen.

They looked at each other for a while and began to glare again. The grey haired Jounin sensei of the team appeared suddenly and looked around at the scene. Kabuto; dead, crushed by rocks from Sakura's punch on the ground. Orochimaru; dead, died instantly from one of Sakura's kunai in his skull while he was trapped and unable to move. Naruto; minor injuries, gash in his side, chakra almost gone, depression dripping from every part of him. Sasuke; minor injuries, kunai wound in his leg, chakra almost gone, rage and hatred of both Naruto and himself expelling itself from his troubled mind. Sakura…

His only visible eye widened as he saw her blooded form lying in the middle of the two living boys. Wounds from both the rasengan and the chidori graced her torso and tears, not one belonging to her but all from her team mates, were spilled over her face. Dead. He shattered inside. She was like Rin in one more way now. A medic, loving, caring, energetic and… deceased.

The two continued to glare at one and other until Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Why do you think of ways to kill the lives you friend died to save?" He asked rhetorically. It worked and both boys lowered their heads in shame and grief. "We will take her back to Konoha and have a proper funeral there. Sasuke, will you return?"

The avenger remained silent but nodded his head none the less. The three males and the limp female made their way back to the hidden leaf village together. Naruto carried Sakura half of the way and Kakashi carried her for the rest of the journey. Sasuke didn't complain, since he knew that he was a traitor and didn't deserve to be near her.

They entered though the gates and many people gave them wary and mourning looks. Wary of the returning Uchiha and mourning over the death of Konoha's cherry blossom. They walked towards the Hokage's tower and many people passed them by, offering a word of sympathy to Naruto or Kakashi and give Sasuke a cold glare.

"Naruto! Kakashi!" A woman yelled from behind them. They turned around and saw Ino running towards them. The three shinobi stopped so that she could catch up and, when she was next to Kakashi, she tried to catch her breath. "Sasuke-kun?! So, the mission was a success? Where's Sakura? Did that forehead think that she can avoid me again now that Sasuke-kun's back? Why I outta-" she stopped and her eyes widened at the petite, lifeless form of her friend in Kakashi's arms. "No." Ino's eyes began to cloud and her loud sobs echoed around the street.

"Oi! Uchiha! Did you make Ino cry just… when… you… Sakura?" Shikamaru observed as he jogged over to the group. Ino turned around and began to cry into his chest while he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Is she…?"

"Yeah. Sakura-chan's dead." Naruto confirmed solemnly.

"No." Ino wailed again before fainting from the shock of finding out her best friend and old love-rival was gone forever. Shikamaru's eyes became water-filled and distant as he held his female team mate in his arm. The cherry blossom of Konoha was gone and no one was going to be cheerful for a while. The sound of munching reached their ears and then of a bag of chips hitting the ground.

"S-Sakura?!" Choji yelled as he ran past his discarded bag of chips and to the girl lying in the arms of her sensei. "Please tell me that she's just tired. She's sleeping right?" Kakashi shook his head slowly and Choji began to tear. The warm water fell down the faces of the boys of team Asuma as they walked towards the training grounds, Ino still unconscious in Shikamaru's arm.

The boys and Kakashi walked into the Hokage's tower and came across Shinzune. She cried her heart out at the death of one of her best friends and fellow apprentice of the fifth. She let them in to see Tsunade without wait as she knew that the older woman would want to know the depressing news. The office was in-use at the moment they entered, as both team Kurenai and team Gai were, with their senseis, reporting the progress of their most recent missions respectively.

"Sakura-chan!" Hinata and Tenten yelled simultaneously and ran over to the konoichi. They both wept at the sight of her blooded form and Hinata grasped the pink-haired girl's cold wrist, refusing to let go. Tenten just continued to cry, stroking Sakura's, now dull and lifeless, hair.

"P-Please. T-tell me that t-this is j-just a j-j-joke." Tenten pleaded though her sobs. Naruto looked away angrily while Sasuke remained stoic. Lee was crushed and couldn't move. He had frozen to his spot and was crying without remorse. Even the Hyuuga prodigy had watery eyes, but he refused to let his tears slip. Kiba was trying to restrain himself from running over to the konoichi and yelling at Naruto for letting her die. Shino sniffed slightly and looked at the floor, which several people in the room had suddenly found very interesting.

"Team seven, what happened?" Tsunade asked calmly. She had to try and maintain a calm compositor at all times, no matter what the circumstances. It was proving to be more difficult that expected in this particular situation, as she wanted to jump over her desk and bring Sakura back to life with the remainder of her chakra.

"Sakura was killed on the mission Tsunade-sama." Kakashi explained for the boys under his command. He looked at the girl in his arms and felt tears pricking his eyes. Gai, seeing the trouble his rival was having holding back tears, walked over and offered to take the konoichi from him. Kakashi gratefully accepted and Gai took Sakura over to the Hokage for examination.

"She had wounds form the chidori." Tsunade began. Everyone, except Kakashi and Naruto, glared at the Uchiha as Tsunade continued. "She also had wounds from rasengan." She stated in question. The people in the room, not Kakashi or Sasuke, looked at Naruto in puzzlement. Kakashi sighed and prepared to explain, but Sasuke cut in, speaking for the first time since he had left sound.

"The rasengan was meant for me," He said glumly. "And the chidori was for Naruto. Sakura just… she didn't want us to die so… she…" Sasuke broke off his words to muffle his uncontrollable sobbing.

"She… jumped in-between… in-between us… and… and t… t-took b-both hits to s-save o-our… our lives." Naruto said though his own tears. By this time Lee and Kiba were both next to Sakura, who lay on the Hokage's desk, and were crying.

"We will hold a funeral for her in one week. Sasuke, you will be on probation for three years. Two for leaving the village for sound and one for the murder of your team mate while attempting to kill the other. Naruto, you will be held off of all missions for six months for the murder of your team mate while trying to kill the other. Kakashi, you will help out at the academy every Friday for three months for leaving your students alone with the enemy. Understood." The three males nodded in acceptation of their separate punishment. "Also, Haruno Sakura's name will be added to the memorial stone and her name will go down in the history books as well for being the one to rid Konoha of one of its worst enemies shortly after she aided Chiyo in the disposal of Sasori of the red sand. That is all, you may all leave." She said, dismissing everyone from her office.

Once the three teams and the limp body of Sakura were outside the office, sobs and weeping could be heard from inside where the Hokage was crying over the loss of her daughter-like apprentice. No one could blame her, because, if you walked past the Hokage's office, you would see three senseis, Kakashi, Gai and Kurenai, with tears running down their faces. You would also see the three, usually stoic, shinobi, Sasuke, Neji and Shino, with small tears in their eyes and staining their shirts. Another sight would be of the usually happy ninjas Kiba and Naruto depressed and dismal, while the latter was holding his deceased female team mate. Three living konoichi, Tenten, Hinata and Shinzune, crying out their souls, wishing that it would help bring their friend back.

True to her word, the Hokage had arranged the funeral to take place a week from the event of Konoha discovering her death. Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Tsunade, Shinzune, Lee and Ino sat in the front row. Behind them sat Shikamaru, Hinata, Tenten, Neji, Temari, Gaara and Kankuro. In the next row sat Choji, Kiba, Kurenai, Iruka, Gai, Asuma and Sai. The final row consisted of Shino, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, Genma, Anko and Ibiki. Her parents had been killed in a sound raid a few months prier to this event, so that it why they are absent.

As seconds became minuets and minuets hours the funeral ended and everyone made their way to the grave yard to burry the cherry blossom girl. The friends of Sakura Haruno held back no tears and dressed all in black for the occasion. Just before they left, Sasuke and Naruto each placed a single cherry blossom on the grave, in remembrance of the cheerful girl under the stone.

A few years later you could still find the remaining members of team seven at the grave stone every Friday to pay their weekly respects. A small blonde girl with white eyes was trying to see over their shoulders to find out who was important enough to drag her father away from his Hokage duties and her Uncle's, Sasuke and Kakashi, away form training. When she caught a glimpse of the name her eyes widened.

"_You_ knew _the_ Haruno Sakura, Tou-san?" She asked in awe. The sixth Hokage, Naruto, smiled at his daughter and nodded.

"She was my team mate, Cherry-chan." Naruto said, addressing his daughter. "Mine and Sasuke's. Kakashi was our sensei at the time." He explained. Over the years, Haruno Sakura had become the name of a hero of adults, elders and children alike for her achievements of ridding Konoha of three enemies. Kabuto and Sasori, the lesser enemies, and Orochimaru, one of the leaf village's greatest foes. "She was one of my best friends and your mother, Hinata-chan, and she got along great."

The young girl nodded and looked again at the stone. She noticed that the men were replacing some cherry blossom flowers, that had wilted, with new, freshly picked ones that Ino had given them free form hers and her husband, Shikamaru's, flower shop. Cherry knew the shop well, since she went their regularly to play with Shikamaru and Ino's daughter, Lily. She also saw that some of the roses she had seen in the shop were their too. She had asked her father why he didn't get roses and he had told her that Tenten and Neji always got her roses. Apparently there was a special flower that each of her friends got her. The Kazekage and his siblings got her Dune Evening Primrose, a flower that grows in the desert while Lee got her some Carmela. Everyone had a separate idea of what to bring her and that was what the got every week. "Tou-san, why do you change the flowers once a week?" Cherry asked.

"Because, Cherry-chan," Sasuke began to answered for Naruto.

"Flowers fade." The men told her in union.

"_Flowers fade."_

**_Fin_****_  
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End file.
